Barzizza takes legal action in mayor’s race
John Barzizza, a Germantown alderman who ran for mayor, has a filed a legal complaint against Shelby County Election Commission and commission administrator Linda Phillips over the results of the Nov. 6 election.
The complaint asks the court to order a recount or declare Barzizza winner of the mayoral seat. It was filed Nov. 30 in Shelby County Chancery Court.
Barzizza challenged Mayor Mike Palazzolo for Germantown’s highest seat and lost by 120 votes, according to the results certified by the election commission on Nov. 26.
The complaint says certified results approved by the election commission stated 543 absentee ballots were cast in precincts voting for Germantown mayor, although 476 were tallied. The certified results also said 40 provisional ballots were received but show 37 were counted, according to the complaint.
Barzizza is challenging that the election commission failed to distribute, allow, verify and tally absentee and provisional ballots properly.
“The Shelby County Election Commission has failed to provide us with accurate reporting of all ballots in this election, therefore we have decided to contest the results of this election to ensure that every legitimate voter who sought to participate in the election has their vote counted,” Barzizza said in a news release. “Should the Election Commission provide us with proof the totals are accurate, I will be the first one to congratulate Mike Palazzolo and concede this election.”
Tennessee Code outlines that a recount can be issued if there is a tie, fraud, voting malfunction or a counting error that would change the results. The court may also deem a recount is justified for other reasons.
Tennessee Code also says the court can confirm the election or declare the election void. The court can declare a tie or declare Barzizza duly elected if the numbers would have given Barzizza an edge.
No hearing has been scheduled by Shelby County Chancery Court.
Now the program has more than 1,200 volunteers in more than 50 schools. The volunteers come from many churches and synagogues.
“It’s the most ecumenical group in Shelby County,” Flaum said.
Flaum praised congregations like Bellevue Baptist and Hope Church, which have joined the movement by giving time and donating resources needed for the group to carry out its mission.
Linda McDaniel, who attends Hope Church, has coached at Caldwell-Guthrie Elementary since she became involved with the program seven years ago.
“It’s inner city and they’re babies,” McDaniel said of her draw to the program. “If not me, then who?”
McDaniel, also not a former teacher, said she wishes she would have had that “extra push” in her education.
“It could’ve been me,” McDaniel said. “I’m happy to be there with the little ones. There are some stars that will rise up, and it will be because of the folks that took the extra time and poured into the children.”
Mary Anne Gibson, Germantown alderwoman and member of Germantown United Methodist Church, praised the program’s growth and response to a need.
“(Jackie) saw a need,” she said. “Students needed more basic training, and she found a way through a team approach to better train students.”
The program has expanded beyond the Memphis area. Flaum has helped train people in Selmer and Huntsville, Alabama.
In the first year in Selmer, 32 percent of the students in the program were not reading proficiently. By the end of the year, Team Read had reduced that number by 20 percent.
Flaum is now the head coach at Winchester Elementary. While the program was started to help students become better readers, the partnership has gone deeper.
The coaches cannot give gifts to the students, but they meet the needs they see. If they see a child needs a coat or shoes, they give them to the school to give to the student.
“When the student asks where it came from, they are told the coat fairy brought it,” Flaum said. She doesn’t mind that students never know where it came from — she and church members are happy to meet the need.
One year Flaum helped the school with a fifth-grade production. The teachers took a two-hour opera and made it into a 45-minute musical. Flaum was able to write the lines for the musicals and help make the entire production a learning experience.
Students learned about selling tickets to offset the cost of the costumes, and in the process they learned about marketing and sales, although they did not notice.
“It was all about a partnership created through Team Read,” Flaum said.
Team Read has made an impact on the many volunteers who keep coming back, according to Flaum and McDaniel. There has never been a shortage of volunteers, with the coaches becoming advocates for the students.
“When you get Team Read, you get people who care about kids,” Flaum said. “The coaches take real ownership of their students . ... It leaves you all warm and fuzzy.”
McDaniel hopes the program continues to draw many volunteers so it can reach more students.
“My prayer is that it would spread across the country because there are a lot of folks that care,” McDaniel said.
While teachers say that the program has changed their students, Flaum said bright students simply become more confident in their reading ability.
“All we claim is that we teach words,” she said. “That’s all we are contracted for.”
Flaum, McDaniel and other volunteers cannot stand to not get involved.
Flaum said so many problems stem from students being deficient readers at the end of third grade.
“For some it’s a number,” Flaum said. “For me, it’s Angel and Devonte and Nika . ... They are all our kids.”
Abigail Warren covers Germantown for The Commercial Appeal. Reach her at abigail.warren @commercialappeal.com or follow her on Twitter @aewarren3.